Unrequited Love
by Duke157
Summary: What happens when Ginny forces Harry to visit the Dursleys for Christmas? What will he find out there? Rated T for some maybe inappropriate language.


**I don't own Harry Potter. That belongs to J.K. Rowling. This is my first Harry Potter fic.**

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><p>It was the December after the war, Ginny and I were at the burrow for Christmas. We were standing outside on the front porch just chatting about Ginny's final year, her NEWTs and what she planned to do after that.<p>

"Harry, you know what I want to do" she smiled, with a slight hint of annoyance. She wanted to become a seeker for the Harpies.

"Yeah, yeah I know…" I smiled. "Come here" I pulled her in for a kiss. It was simple and sweet, just a kiss of happiness, comfort, and with a small tinge of relief.

We kissed for a few minutes it seemed, before Ginny pulled out suddenly. It disappointed me to let go of her lips.

"Harry, did you wish your family for Christmas?" I scrunched my eyebrows and cocked my head slightly to my right.

"Ginny, you are my family…"

She shook her head slightly, seemingly pissed. "NO… Not us… your other family, the muggle ones."

"The Dursleys?" My eyebrows rose up.

"Yeah…" She nodded, smiling.

"Ginny, I haven't had a proper Christmas with them in like… ever. I don't even work out well with them."

"All the more reason for you to go now." She shook her head. "Harry, they kept you safe for more than a decade. You have to go spend at least a few hours with them."

"But…" There was no stopping her now.

"Harry, I won't snog you until you spend a few hours with them." She huffed and turned away to walk back inside, despite my protests.

And that's how I ended up ringing the doorbell of No. 4, Privet Drive. I reminisced about my previous visit here as I waited for the door to open. That had been one hell of a visit.

The door opened to reveal a very surprised Petunia Dursley. I glanced around her to search for the other two. "It's just me. Vernon is still at work and Diddykins is out with his girlfriend." I mentally snorted at the sound of Dudley's nickname. 18 years old and she still calls him that. But he got a girlfriend, that's surprising. I thought he was too much of a mama's boy.

"I…" I faltered but quickly regained composure. "I came over to wish you Merry Christmas."

"Oh" She took another minute before letting me in. "They would be back in a few hours. Just wait here." She said as we made our way to the couch. The house hadn't changed much, but she had, they all had. She still had that frown, but it was much more subtle than what she has given me in the past. She walked back to the kitchen as I silently sat down. We sat silently for about half an hour, disturbed only by the sounds of clanking utensils, and frying bacon, before I heard her speak to me again.

"It's… It's over… isn't it?" I could sense the worry in her words.

I stared at her, clueless as to what she was talking about.

"The war… It's over isn't it?" she repeated.

"Yeah…" I replied flatly.

"A-And a lot of l-lives were l-lost… w-weren't they?" I could sense her voice cracking. I had never seen her like this. Unable to form sentences. She was not that muggle Umbridge I usually visualised her as.

"Yes…" I replied.

Silence... She hadn't uttered a word for another ten minutes. I was about to walk into the kitchen when I heard her voice again. This time, she walked to the kitchen door, and I could see that she was trembling.

"D-Did… did… S-Severus... make it?"

I felt a pain in my heart at the mention of his name. I stared down at the floor and slowly shook my head. When I didn't receive any response, I looked back up, only to find my aunt's eyes full of tears. She was crying. I had never seen her like this. I rushed to her side and held her in my arms, while she cried on my shoulder. I didn't know what to think or feel. She cried for a few minutes before pushing me aside. She turned away and walked back into the kitchen. I decided that I'd give her a few minutes to settle, before I would walk into the kitchen.

I spent those moments trying to assess what I had just witnessed. My strong aunt, was crying more than I had ever seen her cry. She hadn't cried when Dudley was attacked by those dementors a few years ago, and over Snape's death. Sure, they knew each other when they were young, but could it be…

"I'm sorry… I just… just couldn't handle it…" I heard her say from the kitchen. Her voice, still rather shaky.

"It's alright, we've all lost a lot from this…"

Silence…

"Do you know why I hated her…" I walked into the kitchen. "Your mother…"

"Y-You said, you hated her because your parents-" I wasn't sure where this was going.

"Bloody hell, it was about my parents. I didn't really give a shit as to what my parents thought. Sure, that was how it started, but a little while in, I realised that it wasn't worth it." It surprised me to hear such language from her mouth.

I didn't know how to react. Don't blame me, it's not every day that my aunt came and cried on my shoulder. And I don't even watch muggle movies anymore.

"But before I could make amends to that… She stole the attention of one person. The one person that mattered to me… Severus." I could feel the pain in her words.

"I was jealous of Lily, but not for my parent's attention, but for his… My one true love. Every day was a new torture. They would sit together, him, trying to catch her attention, her, just frolicking about as oblivious as one can get, while me, hiding behind the tree staring at him, while cursing her."

I just stood listening to her.

"And then, they disappeared to that forsaken school. That day in September broke my heart. I was sure that they would come back as a couple. I waited, year after year for her to announce that news to me, that they were a couple. But… but it never came. Instead, Lily came home one day with news that she and that Potter boy" My face dropped. She seemed to recognize that. "I'm sorry, your father were together. I was happy, but I still acted indifferently towards her. I tried to make him turn to me, now that Lily wasn't available. But no, he was as loyal a lover as I was. He refused to get closer to me, and moreover, he wasn't the same. He had turned into a solemn, dark person with a stern eye."

Exactly how I remember him.

"I was depressed again. And that was it, the last straw, I knew he wouldn't come over to me as long as Lily was alive. So I gave up on him. It was years before I heard from him again, until your parents died. That day, I was happy again. Happy, because I had hope. True, I was married to Vernon, and had Dudley, but my heart… my heart was still with him. I waited for him, for him to just send me one small note, even a single word asking me to come with him would have been enough for me to drop everything I had and run off with him. My wish that night came true, but not in the way I hoped. The next and final time I heard from him, was the day you first came here. After your parents died."

"But I thought you didn't speak-"

"Oh, we didn't talk. He attached a note to me, along with what your headmaster sent us. I hid it away from Vernon. I was overjoyed at first. He had sent me a note. I had hoped for some show of affection."

She took a deep breath

"All through that letter, he wrote to me apologising for my sister's death, blaming it on himself. He had told me his story, but it was all about his love towards my sister. Tears burned my eyes as I read that. After all this, I hoped to throw away the note, but in the end, he asked me for something. He asked me for a favour. Once I read what he asked for I was reluctant to help. But I was ready to give my life for him, should he ask for it, but instead he asked me for this. I couldn't refuse."

Silence... She had stopped talking and was now staring at the floor.

I cleared my throat before asking "What did he ask as a favour?"

She turned to face me. "Why do you think we didn't give you off to some orphanage? Your Magical friends would have had to find another alternative."

I shivered. "So he…"

"Yes, he was the reason I had spent a full day convincing Vernon to take you in. Though I cried about it every night, for weeks, maybe even months. But deep inside, I was satisfied… satisfied, that unlike my sister, I had not left him unhappy. I still have the note. I carry it around with me everywhere."

She opened up her necklace pendant to reveal a small piece of paper, before closing it again.

"Please don't tell anyone. I just had to get that out." I nodded.

Suddenly, we heard Vernon's car drive into the driveway. Only then did we realise that the bacon had burned. I rushed to help her out with the bacon, when she held me by my arm.

I looked at her and found her eyes glistening. "Harry, I ask you for one favour… W-When I d-die… c-could you b-bury me next to… him?"

I merely nodded, and I felt happy when I saw a faint smile on her face.

I heard the door open as my aunt rubbed the tears out of her eyes and cleared the bacon.

"Petunia dear, what's that smell?"

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><p><em><strong>32 years later<strong>_

She had died a peaceful death, slowly slipping off into oblivion in her sleep. Dudley had made a small issue out of where we should bury her. It took me a while to convince him without telling him the complete story. But in the end, he obliged to bury her in the same place she desired. Once everyone had left, I returned and drew out my wand. I had slightly altered the engraving on the gravestone. Once I had finished I took one last look at it.

_Here lies_

_Petunia Dursley nee Evans_

_You shall forever be remembered_

_For the care that you've shown_

_And for your unrequited love _

_To that man who stole your heart_

Finally, after a lifetime of misery, she was finally at peace, at rest, next to him.

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><p><strong>The idea just came to me yesterday. I couldn't wait to put it down as a story. It was a little shaky at the start I suppose, but I liked her story. That's all for now. READ, REJOICE, AND <span><em>REVIEW.<em>**


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